Free things are always good, and the best way to find them is to look and ask. There are plenty of sites called freestuffhere and freesample4U (these I've made up, but who knows; maybe they do exist) and to find them all you have to do is Google, but usually you'll have to sign up to loads of junk mail, possibly give them loads of your friends emails too, before you'll get anything. That's if it isn't just a con to lumber you with more spam advertising.

When new products are launched most of the larger cosmetic companies will have a supply of sample packs made up, for giving to suppliers and buyers, and some companies will even advertise the fact that they have samples to give away on their commercials. All you have to do to get these samples is ask for them.
Pretty much every company has a website nowadays, and if they don't have a link to the free sample which they are offering then just go to the "contact us" page and ask politely that you would like to try a sample before you buy. The worst they can do is say no, but you'd be surprised at how many times it does work.

Another way that can get you free stuff is to complain, again in a polite manor, when you are not happy with a product. Recently I purchased a hair product from a company I had up until then been very happy with, but the product failed miserably to live up the expectation, and so I emailed them saying I wanted to send it back to them for a refund. They sent me a padded envelope and asked if I'd be interested in trying a new formula instead, which I said yes to in a letter sent with the old product. What I received back was nearly 3 times the value of the original product; they sent me two further full sized products from the same range, as well as the replacement.
What I will say is that you should only complain when you genuinely have a problem with a product, and you should be prepared to send it back to the company, not just take it back to the shop, as you'll probably just get a refund, or voucher.

Anyway good luck in finding all the free stuff that's around, it is out there. Sometimes all you have to do is ask for it!

Learn more about this author, Katie B.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Free samples: How to maximize opportunities for free stuff?
We want to hear your view. Write now!